Gigabyte g-Smart i128 - GREAT PHONE! Anyone else with it?

[jmdrizen]

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Hi,

Does anyone else have this phone? I took the gamble after reading a lot of reviews about the g-Smart range, mostly negative, and upgraded to this from the MDA Pro/HTC Uni.

I have had only two glitches with it todate, and neither serious, was wondering if anyone else had this handset and what their views are.

If anyone has got the handset, and from the London/Essex/Kent areas of the UK if they can post the settings that they have for the TV tuners, it would be GREATLY appricated.

Also does anyone know of any themes or add-ons designed for this device?

All in all, I'm glad I ordered the 128Mb version from Thai instead of getting the 64Mb version available to the UK, if anyone is thinking about this phone, I truely recommend it!


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WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

PLEASE ENSURE THAT IF YOU ALTER THE ROM IMAGE OF YOUR GIGABYTE HANDSET THAT YOU USE THE CORRECT VERSION FOR YOUR DEVICE. IE. UPDATING THE G-SMART I (64M VERSION) WITH A ROM IMAGE FOR THE G-SMART I128 *WILL* BRICK YOUR PHONE.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

[hdubli]

I am also looking for the same..can u post more info as how is the speed, Visibility and especially the TV TUner..and if possible post some screen shorts..

[jaceuk]

yes more info and pics plz,wot are the pros and cons?

[jmdrizen]

Originally Posted by jaceuk yes more info and pics plz,wot are the pros and cons?

Screen shots I can work on, but not able to get them at the mo as Mrs has the camera, but as soon as she's back, no problem...

These are compatible with PAL and NTSC, but not the french system SECAM (or something like that). The picture quality varies from area to area, I've had not that good picture at home in Kent area, but in London it's blinding, then visited someone else in Kent and great aswell.... if you can get a portable TV working, you'll get this working! You don't have to use the aerial thing if you're not keen, the headphones have an aerial built into them aswell...

If you are interested please DONT bid on any of the ones on eBay for ~100, they are ALL cons, if you look at the feedback, they are all from (0) feedbackers, no-longer members, and is a scam to get your dosh.

The only seller I've found that I would recommend is the one that I got it from in Thailand called Gadget-Gear, if you do a search for that name you will see he has stock of the 64Mb and 128Mb version.

The 128Mb version is the one to go for, it is expensive about US$830 including postage, but when you think of the prices of new HTC devices... not that much...

The 64Mb is available to purchase from www.expansys.co.uk, but I wouldn't get this version, as there's a lot less RAM and the glitches aren't fixed.

With the 128Mb version you get the aerial, a spare battery, desktop battery charger, and case all bundled with it, these are bits that are optional extras with the 64Mb one.

There are several great features that this phone has that my HTC uni doesn't, following are the pro's/con's compared to that, but all in all I think it's a GREAT phone.

PRO - Answer phone facility - which allows screening, you can hear the messages live as they are leaving it. Messages are stored on the phone, saving network costs.

PRO - Size & Weight - small handheld, and light.

PRO - Mapping of the hardware buttons - with the Uni you could map the Record button to do something different if you held it... with the G-Smart you can do this with all eight main buttons.

PRO - You get the super high capacity battery as well as the standard one, so you can choose slim phone, or long lasting power.

PRO - Phone recording - when set up, press the camera button during the call, and the call will be recorded and saved to the phone. Handy to prove what was said - (but remember to notify the person first,,, may be illegal otherwise... blah blah)

PRO - Background effects - out on the beer with mates? Told the Mrs that your at work... activate the overdub and she'll here the sounds of the office, the street, the station, airport etc in the background of the call...

PRO - 2.1 megapixel camera.

PRO - Pocket Ghost is preinstalled and great to backup/restore!

CON - no hardware keyboard,, but get TenGo Thumb... and who cares?!

CON - Mini-SD and none provided, but you can pick up a 1Gb one like I did from eBay for under a tenner including postage... great stuff.

All in all as I say, I've had one real problem, but it was my own fault, put a tweak that wasn't compatible on the phone, and crashed it, but hard reset and hey presto!

I've heard the customer service isn't that good from GB but I've not needed to use it, I tend to rely on forums like these to speak to real experts anyway... but the problem I had I got in touch with Gadget-Gear as first thought it was down to the phone and he was incredibly helpful.

As far as the phone, the build quality, the case and extras supplied...Gigabyte, you've done a great job.

[jmdrizen]

Here are some pictures of my pride and joy...

I've put it next to a Sony Ericsson Z520i, so you can judge size etc, don't have any other phone at the mo.

[jmdrizen]

Originally Posted by hdubli I am also looking for the same..can u post more info as how is the speed, Visibility and especially the TV TUner..and if possible post some screen shorts..

Speed. fantastic, no issues with it at all, runs a lot smoother than my Uni ever did, got LOT more free space!, lot more memory for applications to run.

Visibility, the screen is a lot more sharper than my uni, and my mates O2 Mini, can't think of the HTC model of that one...

TV, as I've said, it's as good as the signal you have available, I've had crystal clear pictures in UK with PAL-i though. :-D

[jmdrizen]

This is where I got mine from...

Great seller...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-GIGABYTE-G...QQcmdZViewItem

[zen123]

There's a favorable review of this phone on a Thai website http://www.mrpalm.com/getcontent3.php?tid=389 My wife, who happens to be Thai, translated it for me & it echoes most of what jmdrizen says.

I'm looking to buy either the O2 Atom Exec or Gigabyte g-smart i128 mainly because I want a smaller pda phone. Not too fussed about a hardware keyboard as I'd rarely use it. Also camera quality isn't important for me either.

I want the phone to be fast because I use it primarily for GPS, Skype, watching the odd video & a bit of internet surfing.

jmdrizen I have a few question if poss

1/ Mr Palm says that the screen is a bit 'yellow' is it really bad?

2/ He also says that the speaker is very loud & clear, best of all the pda phones he's tried so far. I notice that speaker is on the back of the phone so when its on a table with the screen naturally facing up is the sound muffled & low or is it still loud enough to be heard acroos the room?

3/ Have you tried it with GPS or Skype - how does it handle these programs.

4/ How long did it take to arrive & did you get stung by customs. My wife is going to Thailand @ Xmas time but I can't wait that long..

Thanks

[jmdrizen]

Originally Posted by zen123 jmdrizen I have a few question if poss 1/ Mr Palm says that the screen is a bit 'yellow' is it really bad? 2/ He also says that the speaker is very loud & clear, best of all the pda phones he's tried so far. I notice that speaker is on the back of the phone so when its on a table with the screen naturally facing up is the sound muffled & low or is it still loud enough to be heard acroos the room? 3/ Have you tried it with GPS or Skype - how does it handle these programs. 4/ How long did it take to arrive & did you get stung by customs. My wife is going to Thailand @ Xmas time but I can't wait that long.. Thanks

To answer those:

1) Not noticed this, if anything I think the screen is sharper and clearer, I've compared it to the HTC Uni, O2 Mini, and Sony Ericsson W800i, and myself and my colleagues rate the Gigabyte g-Smart i128 as the better screen. Once every now and again - and extremly rarely - the screen shows a few dots like you get when your TV signal loses for a second, but that's it, and it is VERY rare.

2) The speaker is great, it is louder than that of the HTC Uni, but then that doesn't take much! You're right that it's on the back, but the camera lens sticks out about 1-2mm which means the speaker won't be flat on the table if you lay it flat, I've not noticed any problems with the audio, loud, crisp and clear. Great for when I'm in the car and got the TomTom going...

3) I use TomTom Navigator 5.21, which runs like a dream, fast, and pairs with the TomTom Bluetooth without any errors or problems, first time and everytime.

I've not used Skype much, don't know anyone with a Skype contact, but this comes preloaded with SkypePLUS which has extra settings and features to the normal Skype.

4) I had a slight snag with the delivery, Gadget-Gear stated it would take 7-14 days from Thailand to UK, which is acceptable, he posted it with Thailand Post, and gave a tracking number, about 5 days into it I got impatient, and emailed him discovering that for some reason it was posted back, but Gadget-Gear was already on the case, and posted it FedEx Express to me, all in all it was in my hand 7 days after I paid for it. Fantastic - I have nothing but praise for Gadget-Gear, the manual is in Thai, but you can download a copy of this, which I can't post at the moment, but will try again later... but the phone is English OS ROM, and he chucked in a UK adapter aswell.

I ended up purchasing a UK plug and Car adaptor, which are available from expansys.

Hope this helps!!

Oh and more importantly, I forgot... call quality - FANTASTIC! Clear and loud.

ALSO, another great thing about this phone is the Bluetooth Headset software, once the headset is paired, it will use that as the speaker if you like, so you can have TomTom or whatever audio you have going threw your headset. It has Voice Commander, not the cut down Voice Dialer, so is a lot better for voice commands.

[jmdrizen]

Originally Posted by zen123 There's a favorable review of this phone on a Thai website http://www.mrpalm.com/getcontent3.php?tid=389 My wife, who happens to be Thai, translated it for me & it echoes most of what jmdrizen says.

Also, Zen, the phone they're reviewing in that site is the g-Smart i, I've got the g-Smart i128. It's even better than the site says, as it's got a few glitches sorted out, and the RAM helps,

Memory Details of mine are:

Storage: Total 117.29Mb, In Use 62.67Mb, Free 54.62Mb
Program: Total 50.32Mb, In Use 37.81Mb, Free 12.51Mb,

Don't let the only 12.5 free program memory fool you though, it runs a lot faster than my Uni did with double that! And this doesn't have the 520 processor either!